OC Housing Report | Lethargic Luxury

By Buying, Selling September 30, 2019

Higher priced homes are so much harder to sell compared to The rest of the housing market.

Luxury is Slow: With an Expected Market Time for all homes above $1.25 million of 213 days, luxury is sluggish.

There is no line at the deli counter. You walk in to your favorite restaurant and get seated right away. At the grocery store, all the check stands are open yet not a soul is checking out. It is sunny with no rain in the forecast, but when you pull up to get the car washed there is no wait. That just about sums up the luxury housing market, there are simply not enough buyers compared to the number of sellers; demand is low. There is no line of buyers waiting for yet another luxury home to come on the market. Yahoo Finance exclaims how the “Housing market bounces back.” CNBC touts how “Existing home sales at their fastest pace since March 2018.” The Los Angeles Times reports that “Southern California home sales and prices perked up in July.” It is understandable how luxury homeowners who list their homes have high expectations. The trouble is that none of these headlines applies to the luxury market. The headlines can be confusing. They seem to paint a strong housing market. They are NOT reporting on the luxury market; headlines describe the overall market. For homes priced below $1 million, Orange County real estate is much hotter and quite the contradiction compared to the upper end. Luxury housing is sluggish. Weekend open houses are not flooded with potential buyers. Multiple offers are extremely rare. It is not uncommon to go a week, or even weeks, without a single buyer touring a luxury home. There is very little buyer competition. A Seller’s Market occurs when the Expected Market Time (the amount of time it would take from coming on the market to opening escrow) falls below 90-days. Below 60-days, is a HOT Seller’s Market. The overall Orange County Market is at 86-days, a Slight Seller’s Market. That is when sellers get to call more of the shots during the negotiating process, yet homes are not appreciating much at all.

 

 

About the Author
Tim Morissette, REALTOR®

Tim Morissette, also known in the community as Mr. Foothill Ranch, offers over 46 years of real estate experience which has given him an established reputation and unmatched market knowledge. He is joined by his wife, Michele and sons Matt and Jeff, as they continue to offer personal service with an emphasis on achieving his clients’ real estate goals.  This unique combination of traits has led to his proven track record of referral and repeat business. This can be witnessed by the trust of homeowners in Foothill Ranch where he has sold twice as many homes and represented three times more buyers than the next-leading real estate agent for the last 26 years.

As residents of Foothill Ranch since 1994, Tim and Michele are actively involved in the community by fundraising for Foothill Ranch Library, Make-a-Wish Foundation, Cancer Society, Homes for Habitat, Relay for Life, South County Outreach, and the local church and schools. Tim enjoys sponsoring community-wide garage sales, paper shredding and e-waste recycling event, an Easter egg hunt, & a Meet Santa Event.

Tim and Michele are dedicated to their family of four sons, daughter-in-laws, and grandchildren. As a family, they enjoy many outdoor activities which include camping, spearfishing, mountain climbing and exploring the miles of hiking and equestrian trails in Foothill Ranch and the Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. Tim and his sons are also avid snowboarders and enjoy mountain biking and lobster diving. Family is a top priority in the Morissette household. They look forward to helping more families achieve their dreams of homeownership.